Andrew Heathwaite went on a public fruit bike ride around Urbana, organized by his lovely housemates JP & Maggie -- & took notes in his handy Urban Field Journal. Here's a poem for a paw-paw patch:
Oddmusic U-C is hosting an Odd Instrument Garden tomorrow (Sunday) at La Casa Grande Colectiva in Urbana, starting at 5 PM! We're turning our big grassy lot into a temporary sound garden, populated by odd performers and odd instruments. Around 5:30, we'll have a concert in th form of a "garden tour" with people, pieces, & a program. So consider yrself invited & consider yrself invited to invite!
Carly, Jacob & I are putting together a something:
Words I have hardly given to this blogthing, & so, presumably, to some friends that read it. Hellohi! I will place myself in spacetime for you.
Fall Semester of School for Designing a Society ended, climaxing w/ a concert at our very house, La Casa. We had musicks, stories, essays, hangings, recitations, installations, & an intermission w/ popcorn jam. Jacob & I joined our goodfriend Rob in an aggregate we call, tentatively, JARBAND, to play one rock-ish version of Nodal Nim's 'how to ferment the colon' & a piece of theatre composed by Rob called, very tentatively, Cockroach Opera, & featuring Nodal Nim's 'stripes' w/ new lyrics by Rob & renamed 'gripes'. I enjoyed it & want more more more of it.
Visited at that time did Dogbody Lathus, goodfriend o' me, who now intends w/ Tilly T, alsogoodfriend, to move to Urbana for living & future SDaSing!
I took Greyhound home to Troy, NY & saw goodfriends from timespast. Had lots of jolly asynchronous conversation, wrote a lot, & generally felt at peace w/ universe. Spent Xmas w/ my mom & her man Bob. Made good food & good musick improvisationally w/ Scotty. Remembered how to meditate.
Greyhounded back to Urbana, IL to spend New Years w/ goodfriends out here. Anna hosted a gettogether gamenight, & we played Apples to Apples & Boggle, chatted, & made musick out of banjo, saw, toy piano, & apartmentbits.
Beth hosted another composition intensive, at which I made new friends, wrote up some bits about antijamming, reacquainted myself w/ th Blue Demon (my mandolin), & participated in smokey pancakemaking.
Went out hunting for something joblike, but have yet to find anything.
Read books. Cooked food. Ate food.
Inspired in part by a visit to th Prairie Zen Center in Champaign I started a daily sunrise meditation practice which I've continued for a week or so to th present day. Newfriend Caroline (who invited me initially to th Prairie Zen Center) joined me for th first few sessions, & since then, Jacob & my new housemate Ronna have also occasionally joined.
Attended one session of a "contemplative meditation" group hosted by newfriends Snow Leopard & Ty.
Started a dual journal w/ Jacob.
Reacquainted myself w/ my Cümbüş & taught some daysongs to Jacob, who then learned an accompanying part on tubulon (stainless steel tubes he has cut to play in 17edo). Played again w/ neutral scales.
Attended & helped at Oddmusic Convergence, hosted by Jacob, augmented by UnTwelve, at th Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, whereat people of all sorts assembled instruments from parts strewn about, showed them off, played them w/ others, etc. Jacob performed Messiaen on udderbot w/ Snow Leopard. Jacob & I debuted tubes-Cümbüş musicks.
Started a daily(ish) morning schmooze w/ goodfriend Drew, at which we've discussed desire, determinism, doubletalk, description, radical constructivism, reality, & other topics beginning w/ "d" & "r".
Attended one evening, so far, of a poetry class taught by Michael Halloway, hosted at Michael Brün's house down th street from us. Showed Book of Days project, which I rather miss.
Played a bit of Go.
Survived w/ good humor th bitter cold (so far).
Find myself needing a shower.
Feel pretty nice, & attribute it to getting good sleep, having a nice walk w/ Sophie in th sun, & finally getting around to writing for my blog.
Hear Jacob in th other room playing distorted hymns & singing along, as part of a compositional practice.
Run to catch th phone... don't quite make it...
Look forward to...
Will go to contemplative meditation w/ Snow Leopard & Ty at 5:30.
Will, hopefully soon, make steps toward a radio show w/ Jacob called, perhaps, "Talk Wrong Radio".
Intend to take a shower as soon as I post this.
Excited about new member of JARBAND, our friend Anna, who has agreed to our proposal to learn Jacob's tubes so he can play udderbot & trombone. Our new four-piece plans to do all 17edo music, including old Nim/Andrew songs, old Jacob songs, & new cybernetically-themed songs by all.
Will have a job sooner or later, & so a routine & rent money. Fingers crossed.
New interest in I Ching makes me wonder where a project involving that could take me.
Have plans to compose a song w/ Anna that "plays w/ policy".
Enjoy Buddhist & constructivist readings & plan to continue them into th future.
Would like to suggest a Go tournament w/ four or so local playerfriends.
Want to clean my room a bit later.
Mostly, I don't know what to expect of th future. I have no long-term plans at all. I rather like it that way, actually.
Now that I've mostly caught things up on this here blog, I'd like to share more up-to-date ideas & use it for organizing bits of this & that & that & this.
In Urbana, I now live, & no where else - in a room & a house - w/ dog & dog - w/ art-doers - whereat pianos get burned on pyres to celebrate anniversaries of birth & livingtogetherness. We have a living room w/ newly-painted redwalls. We make delicious togetherfoods & grand musicks pour out of pores.
Jacob & I have done a bit of playing - on udderbot, he, & also recorder - on stringthings I - at farmer's market for happyfaces - futurized to do a show at Red Herring Coffee House on September 5 (& do come!). We begin classes for School for Designing a Society on th morrow - & today th school holds an "open house" to which we intend to infinitive-splittingly go.
Playing: yes. I continue to write wee 17edo cumbus tunes incorporating Book of Days. One more since moving I have written. Computer troubles keep me from immediately recording, but I want to share when I can share. Jacob & I wish write togetherthings. Perhaps strange collaborative wonders will also emerge.
My beagle loves it here. She got lots of pets from lots of humans at partything last night. So it goes.
I want visitors! Those of you round about Chicago will find it easy to Greyhound or Amtrak to me. Elsewise, you can travel first to Chicago, then down here from there, easy as pi.
Ten thousand lovebuttons,
AndR
I have a place to live in Urbana:
& a bedroom (note happy beagle):
In a week I move downstate for good (i.e. at least a school semester), & things look just jolly.
Th Law of Fives strikes again, landing in my lap not only an opportunity to play some Nodal Nimly singsonglia, but also to help organize & MC a night of delightful fun inaugurating a series of strange & wonderful shows at a place called th Red Herring Coffeehouse, a vegetarian counter-culture arts&activism wonderland run by Unitarian Universalists (all hail Unitar!). Jacob Barton & I have some marvelous things in th works - music, games, interactive weirdness, special guests, et cetera, et cetera & so on unto infinity! So Urbana-ites (Urbanians?), mark yr calendars immediately; keep open th date known in Western circles as September Five.
I would describe th UnTwelve benefit as, ahem, delightfully radically splendidly exuberantly cool. Or something like that. I hope to have YouTube video to share w/ you very soon!
I find myself now in Urbana, in my future home & house, nabbing some computer time & generally chilling out. I've felt just a bit stressed lately, preparing for a gig, hosting my friend Jacob in a tiny & miserable apartment, walking dogs in menacing heat, & failing to not catch a cold. But in Urbana, I can think & nap. & I enjoy both of those activities quite a little bit.
My body doesn't live in Urbana yet, but as of today, a few of my things do. By round about August 22, I will relocate my body as well.
For those of you still in Chicago & interested in catching a bit of Nim in coming days, I've agreed to guest-host at th Wednesday night open mic at Tea Essence! It goes 8-10, & I will surely play a tune or two! 1913 N Milwaukee.
I visited Urbana again this weekend to work out (a) working, (b) living. Th plan: I will work in audio, digitizing old reel-to-reels in th Herbert Brün collection (mostly original electronic compositions from decades past); I will live at La Casa Colectiva w/ wonderful humans, chickens, & currants; I will move from Chicago to Urbana in August gradually, one carload of my stupid junk at a time, working in Chicago during th week & taking trips downstate during (some of) th weekends. Things appear to make sense.
